Lions Sign Five
The men’s basketball coaching
staff at Texas A&M University-Commerce announced today the
signing of five new players who will join the Lions for the
upcoming season. All five bring an accolade-filled background to a
team that advanced to the championship game of the Lone Star
Conference Tournament in 2007-08.
Cardell Hunter, a 6-1 guard, is the first of four
Division I transfers to join the Lions. He spent the last three
seasons at the University of Texas-Arlington, which advanced to the
NCAA Tournament in 2007-08. After redshirting as a freshman with
the Mavericks, he saw action in 62 games over the last two seasons
and averaged 4.0 points, 2.8 assists and 2.1 rebounds a contest. He
scored a career-high 12 points against Texas-San Antonio (Jan. 23,
2008) and Sam Houston State (Feb. 22, 2007). Last year, he dished
out six assists in three-different games and had five rebounds in a
game twice. As a redshirt freshman in 2006-07, he was a member of
the Southland Conference All-Academic Honorable Mention Team.
Hunter is a graduate of Carter High School in Dallas. In high
school, he was named first-team all-district, all-region and
all-state while leading the Cowboys to a 34-5 record and a state
semifinal appearance his senior season. In addition, he was a
McDonald's All-American nominee as a senior and second-team
all-district performer his junior season. In the classroom, he was
a member of the A/B Honor Roll and inducted into the National Honor
Society and named to the Who's Who Among American High School
Students.
Sammy Jackson, a 6-5 forward, comes to
A&M-Commerce after spending the last two years at Jacksonville
Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas. Last year, he averaged 10.0
points and a team-best 7.1 rebounds a contest as well as making
55.2 percent of his shots from the field. As a freshman, he
averaged 9.1 points and 5.8 rebounds a contest en route to
honorable mention all-region honors.
The third Lions signee, Michael Milton, is the
all-time leading scorer at Plano Senior High and comes to
A&M-Commerce after previously attending Big 12 member, Texas
Tech. As a high school senior, he was named first team all state,
district MVP, Dallas Morning News first team all area and
a TABC All-Star while averaging 21.9 points and 6.5 rebounds a
game. Milton set the school single-game scoring record with 41
points and was a three-time all-district selection.
For the second-straight year, the Lions coaching staff have picked
up a transfer from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Joining the Lions
from the Islanders in 2008-09 is Dominique Taylor,
a 5-11 guard from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Like fellow newcomer,
Cardell Hunter, Taylor gained valuable experience in 2006-07 as the
Islanders advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
The final signee - Ronnie Morgan - comes to
A&M-Commerce after spending last year at Paris Junior College,
where they advanced to the national tournament. Morgan earned
honorable mention all-conference honors while playing for former
Lions assistant and standout Ross Hodge. He was ranked by
Rivals.com as one of the Top 100 players in the nation. In 13 games
as a freshman at Louisiana Tech, he averaged 1.4 points and 1.3
rebounds. The 6-6 forward won a state title as a junior at DeSoto
High School and as a senior at South Oak Cliff High School. He
averaged 13.3 points and 9.4 rebounds a contest and was a teammate
of Darrell Arthur, who was recently selected in the first round of
the NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. His brother, J'Mison
Morgan, will be a freshman in the fall at UCLA.
Earlier this year, the Lions signed three players – P.J.
Colley, Brad Hambrick and DeUndrae Spraggins.
